There's Trouble Ahead, I Can Feel It
by theseconstellations
Summary: It was inevitable, Stiles was in way too deep this time.


Stiles didn't just suddenly have feelings for Cora Hale. It wasn't like his Lydia infatuation that sprung up on him in the third grade and stuck for seven years. It was more gradual. He couldn't really pin point the exact moment where he suddenly realized 'jesus christ, I think I might actually sort of have a big fat crush on this scary, yet infuriatingly sexy girl' but he figured out that it probably started when she finally enrolled at BHHS, and joined him, Scott, Isaac, Allison, and Lydia in his English class – ironically taught by Ms. Blake. He could never wrap his head around the fact the girl spent all her time in a stuffy loft with her freaking crazy older brother and even crazier uncle. So, for some reason Stiles was kind of relieved when she had walked into the classroom that day. It was like he had been waiting for it since the two had first met.

Stiles remembered the way she walked into the class, and it was like he was seeing a totally different and new side of her. Someone who was more timid and yet, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. He was so used to the feisty yet reserved girl that he didn't think she was capable of anything else really. It was even more of a surprise when she took Lydia's seat that was next to his. He guessed it was mostly because she had only ever really been on decent terms with him but Stiles allowed himself to think that maybe he was her favorite out of all the people she had met since she got back, and that boosted his ego a little – even it wasn't true.

Things somehow got a trillion times better when Ms. Blake assigned a group project, something that had to do with Othello – Shakespeare shit that no one cared about. Stiles already knew he wouldn't get grouped with Scott, not even the newest teachers were that stupid. Instead, Scott got paired with Isaac, Allison with Lydia and Stiles with Cora… which was a surprise but one that Stiles kind of preferred.

Cora was… fun. Stiles couldn't find a better word for it. She'd come over his house after school everyday, and it wasn't like the other times they were together alone. It didn't feel forced, it felt… right, like they had been friends all along. She'd show up at his front door and they'd go straight up to his bedroom. Stiles would play video games and Cora would lay on his bed and read, occasionally interrupting him to tell him how bad he was.

They didn't even start the project until the very last day when they finally bought a poster and stuck a few relevant things on it, all the while practically tripping over each other to make it somewhat decent. It was shit, nothing compared to Allison and Lydia's graphically organized poster that was pink – probably because Lydia said so and when Lydia says something, that's how its gonna be. Yet, it was better than Scott and Isaac's, that barely had anything on it.

After the project was finished, Stiles figured the two of them would go back to what it was like before – just a nod in the hallway, something insignificant and that realization disappointed him more than he thought it would. But when it didn't, and she continuously showed up at his front door, Stiles was relieved and happy – definitely happy. He didn't really know what it was, but she was interesting. Her mannerisms, the way she talked and how she'd always bite her nails when she thought he wasn't looking.

Stiles was in deep and he knew that there was no way to pull himself out of this one. He had never been the type of guy who held in his feelings. Half the school had known for years about Stiles' crush on Lydia, but he knew that with Cora it was different. He was just mainly afraid, mostly of what Derek would say. He imagined it had a lot to do with getting his throat ripped out for even thinking about Cora in anyway other than Derek's werewolf sister who could kick his ass.

All Stiles knew was that he liked Cora a lot, and it was a problem.

One night, Stiles got a text from Cora asking if he'd go down and meet her at the loft. Without even thinking about it, Stiles agreed – of course he did, it was Cora... It was only when he was halfway through the loft and saw Derek sleeping, his head on Ms. Blake's lap where he realized how stupid he was. He stopped dead in his tracks, both of them were sleeping and he debated in his mind whether he should leave while his legs were still in tact or just grow a pair and walk right past them to Cora's room up the stairs.

He looked at the two figures on the coach before he quietly tiptoed to the stairs. He was half way there when he heard Derek's voice from the coach. "Where are you going, Stiles?" Derek asked. Stiles silently cursed himself before trying to find the right words – which never came to him.

"Uh… uhm – I was just uh…" None of what he said was coherent, and he knew that. But he froze, that's what happened when he was under pressure. Luckily, he didn't have to finish his sentence, because Cora was meeting him half way down the stairs and pulling him up to her room. "Don't interrogate him." She said, Stiles assuming that she was speaking to her older brother that was already a considerable distance from hearing range.

"Just doing my job." He called back up, obviously only saying it loud enough so that Stiles could hear.

He saw Cora roll her eyes, something she did a lot. "Sorry, he's annoying. I blame it on the years of crying in the basement of our burnt down house." Stiles looked at her, not knowing if he should laugh or not. Cora just bit her lip, "It's a joke, Stiles." It was like she could read his mind and for a second he thought maybe that came with all the werewolf powers. He started thinking of something else, he tried puppies but ultimately, the only thing he could think about was Cora naked and the fact she was wearing a really low cut shirt only made things worse.

Stiles took the opportunity of comfortable silence to look around her room. It wasn't like Lydia's, there wasn't any pink or prada bags thrown all over the place. The walls were a faded white and she a couple movie posters hung up. It was very Cora like, simple and he liked it. He looked at her sitting on her own bed, cross legged, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. It was like, just looking at her made his insides turn, in a good way. A feeling that he wanted to explain to her but didn't know how to even start.

"Did you hear about Lydia and that new kid uh – what's his name?" She clicked her tongue, deep in thought. But Stiles didn't really care. Under other circumstances, maybe a few months ago… he would have wanted to hear all about Lydia and the new kid, but now it just didn't matter. Sitting in front of him was someone who actually liked hearing his crazy theories, someone who kind of just listened to him rant on about what was currently happening in his boring life.

"I like you." He said, abruptly. It was like everything kind of bubbled up to the surface, and it just came out, he didn't even think about it.

Cora smiled, "Good, I mean… there'd kind of be no friendship if you hated me, y'know?"

"Oh god." Stiles groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. He could feel a speech coming on, and he couldn't stop it. He just thought that maybe Cora needed to know, even if her brother was going to hear all of it and think Stiles was an idiot. It was worth it, he decided.

"I don't like you, I mean… yeah I like you but I like you in a different way. Y'know the… oh I don't want to be just her friend way." He hesitated, not really knowing how to go on. He couldn't look at Cora until he got it all out though, but he was just trying way too hard to put all the words together so that they made sense, but he just sounded stupid. "Basically, I kind of have a huge crush on you in that 'I want to stay in bed with her all day and kiss her' kind of way. And I'm a huge fucking idiot, I know, but you're really fuckin' cool Cora, and I'd be an even bigger idiot if I didn't tell you." Stiles finally let himself breathe, and then looked up at Cora who was just staring at him, her eyes wide.

"Stiles…" She started biting her nails, which made Stiles smirk. He knew she did that when she was nervous, he just didn't know if it was a good or bad nervous. She slowly climbed off her bed and sat on the floor, right in front of Stiles. He refused to look at her, and there was also the really bad feeling… like he was gonna throw up due to embarrassment. Her cold hand taking his and fitting them together waffle style might have been what shook him, and he finally let himself look at her. "You're adorable." She said, finally letting out a light laugh.

"That hurts my ego." He said, bringing his hand up to his heart in a playful way. She smiled again and Stiles thought that if he could just watch her smile all day, he would. They sat there for a few minutes, or maybe it was seconds – Stiles had no idea. He was too busy looking at Cora, looking at her lips, her eyes, back to her lips again. He wanted to kiss her, to taste her and when he leaned in, she thought he'd let him. But she leaned back, just enough to keep a distance so that their lips weren't touching but still close enough that Stiles could feel her breath on him. He almost pulled back; he was used to rejection anyways. But instead he stayed, not moving and inch.

It was a few seconds of eye contact, the two of them only centimeters apart. Up until Cora's hands wrapped around Stiles' neck, and she pulled him those few centimeters closer so that their lips were finally clashing.

She kissed him, and it was everything Stiles had expected. Her hands moved from his shoulders to his cheek, to the back of his neck. Her hands left a trail of goosebumps everywhere they went, eventually stopping at the nape of his neck so she could move them upwards into his hair and pull on it slightly. While Stiles allowed himself to bring his hand up to her cheek and push a stand of hair behind her ear.

By the time Cora pulled away and out of the kiss, he was slightly out of breath and he already knew his cheeks were flushed pink. Cora on the other hand, looked completely normal – with a little bit of hair sticking up, Stiles' fault obviously.

The next three hours were spent laughing and kissing and Stiles blushing, until he eventually was being led downstairs and escorted out by Cora. Derek didn't say anything to the two of them, he just glared like usual and creepily watched as Cora gave Stiles a quick peck on the cheek and promises to text him.

Before he walked to his jeep he could hear the slight muffled sound of Cora calling Derek an idiot and the image of her rolling her eyes made Stiles smile the whole way home.


End file.
